{"id":393977,"date":"2010-03-05T17:00:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T22:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.androidguys.com\/?p=13924"},"modified":"2010-03-05T17:00:20","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T22:00:20","slug":"beta-review-swype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/393977","title":{"rendered":"Beta Review: Swype"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Swype – Actually pretty awesome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The onslaught of touch-only Androids hitting the market has created a bit of dilemma for me. You see unfortunately, I was blessed with fingers that may as well be physically allergic to on-screen keyboards. I’d literally take a T9 keypad over those ridiculous on-screen “mock ups” of the real thing… So for now, I’ve been patiently waiting with my T-Mobile G1 for an awesome new Android packing a full QWERTY. It’s felt like an eternity already…<\/p>\n

While time will tell if I’ll ever get my new phone-of-my-dreams, a new app has been released in beta that I’ve been lucky enough to have a few weeks to try out, and I must say, that while it’s not perfect, almost would make me consider a touch-only device.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swype<\/em> is an app that replaces the stock on-screen keyboard with a new gesture-based way of typing. It’s a novel concept that, surprisingly, works pretty well! Let’s say for example you wanted to type “Hi android.” All you have to do is touch down on H<\/strong>, then slide your finger to the i<\/strong> and release. After you lift your finger, touch back down on the a<\/strong> to begin typing android, and continue the same way you did hi, but sliding from the a to the n<\/strong>, the d<\/strong>, r<\/strong>, o<\/strong>, i<\/strong> and finally d<\/strong>. The spaces are automatically added every time you start another word. Most common words are automatically guessed and used. If it’s not 100% sure of what you wanted to type, an on-screen predictive text type box comes up with some suggestions of what you might have meant. If your word isn’t in there, you hit an x and just touch type your word the old fashion way, adding it to your message and to the predictive database. It’s really simple and intuitive. There are a lot of little hints and tricks on the official website for Swype<\/em> (www.swype.com<\/a>), but I’m just going to recommend you start trying it out for yourself to see all that it can do.<\/p>\n

Swype<\/em> is still in beta at the moment, but it’s already proving itself to be a truly unique and worthwhile alternative to typing. It has regular touch screen typing beat by a long shot, and while I’m still not ready to let go of my beloved physical QWERTY’s, I’d at least consider a touch-only phone if I could use Swype<\/em> on it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Might We Suggest…<\/h3>\n